Have you heard this cliche that is still very appropriate, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Your time is valuable. It may seem you’re going to get ahead faster if you just dive in and get into action, but that feeling will be short-lived when you start to come up against problems. The thought of getting into that situation should answer the question, why is planning important for a business. This also applies to online businesses.
All companies who run major projects, go through an extensive planning process. The planning process should not be haphazard either. It must be ORGANIZED PLANNING. It takes a great deal of capital investment to start a conventional bricks and mortar store. Since there is a lot at stake, advance planning is crucial. Especially if a bank loan is involved. They want to see a business plan.
When it comes to our online businesses, especially Affiliate Marketing, very little up front investment is involved. It makes it easy to skip the planning process and just start. However, if little or no planning is done, the chances of success is virtually nil.
We need to conduct organized planning. This takes resolve, discipline all wrapped up in good habits.
This leads me to why I am writing this article.
Affiliate Marketing and Good Business Building Habits
I run an online affiliate marketing business. Something became very clear to me once I got well into creating my business website. My habits were not conducive for success.
That assessment was confirmed when I read the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I saw that the lessons that book taught applied to anything in life you wanted to achieve. It so happens Napoleon Hill focused on the accumulation of wealth.
This makes sense. The possession of money, and lots of it, gives us leverage in achieving most dreams we can think of. The absence of money, can drive us into poverty. Here is where it is easy to go astray.
The Poor and Rich Mindset
Being poor is not dictated only by the lack of money, but also a state of mind. Let me elaborate.
When poor people win the lottery, it doesn’t take long for most of them to spend everything they won and end up right back where they were. This statement is not to decry people who happen to be poor. However, statistics show this to be so. Why? It comes down to a mindset of poverty.
The opposite is also true. A person with wealth consciousness can be poor financially, but they use the power of their minds to turn their lives around. Those individuals with this type of mindset will invest most of their winnings and make it grow larger over time. They are able to leave a legacy to their family.
Think and Grow Rich provides us with a formula for success that is universal and timeless. I was so impressed with the book, I decided to conduct a book study for the members of the online group of entrepreneurs I belong to.
Our Community Of Successful Entrepreneurs
We are a band of entrepreneurs in the millions, working hard to build our affiliate marketing businesses online. We are also not doing this alone. Our training comes from Wealthy Affiliate who have been creating successful online business people who are killing it. If you are not sure what Affiliate Marketing is, I have written many posts about it on this website. Here is one post that will explain what Affiliate Marketing is about:
What Is Affiliate Marketing And How To Get Started
As good as the training is, just knowing what we have to do is not enough. It takes organized planning and strategic and daily action to build a successful online business. In fact, this would apply to any business.
In other words, we have to change our loosing habits to winning habits. Easier said than done.
Learn How To Create Winning Habits
Think and Grow Rich helps us to do precisely that. I wrote one blog post per chapter. The members who participated in this book study shared valuable thoughts of their own in each chapter. This allowed us to learn not only from the book, but also from each other.
Everyone felt they learned a great deal about honing the good habits necessary to become successful.
I have already written 6 posts here on my website, corresponding to the first six chapters. Each had links to the blog post on the Wealthy Affiliate training platform. When you click on the picture at the end, you will get to Chapter 7 on organized planning.
You can read the post freely as well as check out the training platform. As you do that, a pop up registration form will appear that allows you to join us as a starter member with no cost to you. All you need is an Email address. No credit cards necessary.
You will have the opportunity to not only learn the lessons from Think and Grow Rich, but also the lessons on how to create a successful online business.
See you on the other side. But please, leave some comments below first.
Cheers.
Edwin Bernard
Click this picture to get to the Think and Grow Rich Chapter VII – Organized Planning Solution
Hi, Edwin
As I was reading your post, I couldn´t keep thinking about a standard business plan, the mission, goals,… the executive summary and the rest. It is absolutely true that building an online business we tend to forget how necessary is the strategic plan for our businesses, since each one of us most plan it.
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill seems to be a book that all online marketers must have. I clicked down on the picture and I can see a rich source of knowledge right here.
I was expecting a link to buy the book. That would be great to have it in digital form and also expecting your valuable insights about the book.
Thank you, thank you for this crucial information to us.
Thank you sincerely for your supportive comments. I am glad you stated you were expecting to see a link for the book. I placed a link in my Intro blog. You can download Think and Grow Rich for free via the following link:
Think and Grow Rich eBook
In future bogs I will make it a point to add this link. I appreciate your recommendation.
Cheers.
Edwin
Think and Grow Rich seems to be the prosperity bible of entrepreneurs and successful people, just like Rich Dad Poor Dad.
As an affiliate marketer, I appreciate your post, as it serves as a nudge for me to just to keep going, and that our mindset is everything! I also do affirmations every day, and I train my subconscious mind, both to manifest and feel abundant.
While abundance does not equate to money for me, and I disagree with ‘lots of money give the leverage’, I am filled with gratitude to read about organized planning as one of the important keys to success. And yes, you are right–there’s little investment in affiliate marketing, so it pays to nurture it. Thank you for this reminder. Let’s own our success!
Cheers,
A
Thanks for your comments. I much appreciate your insights.
When we are working alone, one of the challenges is being accountable. Those who make it, work very hard to follow through on what they promise themselves they will do.
This book, through its exercises, helps us in this area of being accountable to ourselves. Or to our plan.
I wish you much success in your affiliate marketing journey.
Edwin
Affiliate Marketing is difficult. I THINK a lot, but am not growing rich. I like your post. It introduces the necessity of planning. I need a book to show me HOW to plan for affiliate marketing.
What we do every day is plan, and if that plan goes awry, we plan some more. But it is more of a trial and error that I am experiencing. I need direction. What plan do I use? Specifically, what do I do to wow with my marketing folks? AND most importantly how do I get sales?
Does the book Think and Grow Rich offer us methods of planning? How do we get in there and work? I plan to peruse this book and see if it offers me what I need. Thanks for the post. I needed a recommendation. Good luck in your business.
Sandi
Hi Sandi,
Just in case you do not have this book, here is a link to a free PDF copy.
Think and Grow Rich
One of the aspects of good planning is to be accountable to someone for the commitments you make in your business. Since we are working alone, this is tough. Napoleon Hill suggests we create or join a Master Mind group where the members agree to be accountable to each other.
When I conducted the book study on Wealthy Affiliate, we had a Master Mind group consisting of those who participated. You can check that out here:
Think and Grow Rich – It Could Be Worth A Million Dollars To You!
I also wrote a post on this website that could help. It is called:
How To Get Started In Affiliate Marketing Step by Step.
Let me know if any of this helps you to plan better.
All the best to you.
Edwin